Baselworld is only a few weeks away. Getting the latest news is easy, Click Here for info on how to join the Watchuseek.com newsletter list. Follow our team for updates featuring event coverage, new product unveilings, watch industry news & more!

So my 52W4100 will be arriving in the mail tomorrow and I was wondering what kind of break in the TV requires. My last TV was a 50" plasma and I broke it in for 100 hours, should I do the same or is it not necessary? Any advice is appreciated!

Did you read page 31 of your manual? It says you must be connected to CATV/Antenna w/o a cable box and the TV must be plugged in but not turned on. I assume (the mother of all screw ups) that software updates if any are D/L just as the onscreen guide info is. Are you aware if a software update is available for W4100 's ? If so what is your source?

No software update so far as I understand. I would just like to have some of these questions answered for future reference on a product. Usually when I purchase any product with firmware upgradabitlies, the day I bring it home and plug it in, 9 out of 10 times it will perform an upgrade. So it never hurts to check in advance. When I emailed Sony "tech support" (which is a joke) the "tech" told me that it is upgradeable with a USB thumb drive. The manual only mentions what your already posted. So you can see how confusing this is. Plus how will they download an update OTA?

Try Butterflyphoto.com they have it for $2,329.99 with no tax and free shipping

They're usually the lowest bottom line price when I do Pricegrabber.com

I've never ordered from them but a few of my friends have and haven't had any issues. I'm debating between the 46" and 52" W4100 right now. Just depends on if I can get the wife to agree to the extra cost of the 52" (she's paying )

I've never ordered from them but a few of my friends have and haven't had any issues. I'm debating between the 46" and 52" W4100 right now. Just depends on if I can get the wife to agree to the extra cost of the 52" (she's paying )

problem is this time she doesn't want to spend more than $2k (She was really hoping for closer to the $1500 range) and the 46" I can get for $1700 while the 52" is $2300 I don't know if she'll go for a $600 difference for only 6". Not to mention the fact that I'm not sure if a 52" will fit in as well where we are going to put it.

Excuse the mess (and the Koala's ) we just moved in not too long ago and are still getting organized.

That's a 40" I'm just afraid that 52" might not fit in that corner too well, with out getting either too close to the door way or the fire place

I have a ton of Cardboard laying around from new furniture, I think I may cut out a 52" TV and place it up in there and see how it looks

No software update so far as I understand. I would just like to have some of these questions answered for future reference on a product. Usually when I purchase any product with firmware upgradabitlies, the day I bring it home and plug it in, 9 out of 10 times it will perform an upgrade. So it never hurts to check in advance. When I emailed Sony "tech support" (which is a joke) the "tech" told me that it is upgradeable with a USB thumb drive. The manual only mentions what your already posted. So you can see how confusing this is. Plus how will they download an update OTA?

Sorry if I was a little terse in my original response to your post. Look at page 30. Press HOME on your remote with your TV on. Navigate using the center button(used to be called joystick) left or right until you land on SETTINGS icon. Press enter, then scroll up or down until you land on PRODUCT SUPPORT icon( looks like telephone). Now my memory gets fuzzy but you should see maybe three choices. Scroll to SOFTWARE UPDATE and enter. If there is one or more updates posted you scroll up or down and pick the latest and enter.
Now the next step is confusing to me but allegedly you must turn your TV off leave it plugged in and connect your cable or OTA cable from the antenna directly to your TV "F" input (page 10 rear of TV Item 8). Probably do this at night before you retire and in the AM you may or may not have your update installed. I personally think this is a dinky do way of sending software updates, especially based my experience trying to d/l the on screen guide and edit in all the local digital stations. But maybe it is better than nothing.

Speaking of calibration I went to Best Buy and imputed the settings from Cnet, and while they did look very nice, its so dark that it seems like you lose some of the HD pop, which im not ashamed is why I spent $2500 on the 52w4100. Anyone have a good setting that gets the best picture while maintaining that pop you can only get from HD?

Well, I can give you my opinion because I bought the LN52A650 and the KDL-52W4100. About a month ago I started comparing the 2 sets several times and end up getting the 650 about 2 weeks ago. Now this TV will be for about 75% gaming and 25% TV & movie viewing. Then comparing the 2 sets in the store I just fell in love with the 650 not that the W4100 looked bad or anything, I just loved the glossy back screen and red trim. 650 had blacks that were CRT level and the price was better then the W4100. So after getting the 650 home I was loving it even more, the picture quality was off the charts compared to my 2+ years old 42" RPTV A10, even SD content was solid. So about 3 hours after watching TV and messing with the settings I decided to play some Gears of War on it, this were things went down hill. Let me get something out of the way right now, I have been playing Gears of War for a year and half now with the same people generally, about 3 to 4 times a week. As soon as started playing I instantly started missing Active Reloads like crazy and getting destroyed in Shotgun battles, which I believe is result of Input Lag. So I began looking for a Game Mode setting which I did find and turned on. I was a little upset with the fact that you can not adjust the picture in Game Mode but I figured if gets rid of the Input Lag I can deal with it. Game Mode helped slightly but I was still missing my Active Reloads pretty frequently and I felt like a was slightly behind the action still. So for 2 days I debated what to with 650, I decided that it cost too much to not enjoy gaming on it when that is what I mainly bought it for. So, after that I was extremely down on LCD sets, so I start to look into Plasma sets but with IR and the dull look that Plasmas tend to have turned me off. I decide to go back to the waiting game and just playing on my A10 but then the Cnet review of the W4100 hit. Granted the Cnet review was not glowing but there was enough there to warrant a purchase. I picked up the W4100 2 days ago and this TV is here to stay. I got it home and hooked it up in 5 minutes. I started to mess around with the menu and my wife made comment that the 650 looked way better, which I said "hold on let me go threw the settings" and of course Sony default is Vivid, as soon as I set it to Standard she said nevermind. I messed with menu and TV viewing for about 10 minutes and then I decided to cut right to the chase. I turned on the 360 and set the Input to Game Mode and started play Fuel Depot in Gears of War and with in the first 5 minutes I knew I have found my new TV. This TV was as responsive as my A10 and on top of everything else you can adjust the picture in Game Mode unlike the 650. Here is the breakdown between the 2 sets for me:

HD Picture Quality: Pretty even on this front but 1080p content looks better on the W4100 for some reason, where the 650 doesn't look that much different viewing 720p or 1080p, might be to the glossy screen.

SD Picture Quality: I would give this to the 650, it just plain looks better then the W4100. I was able to get the SD content looking a little better on the W4100 after a little work.

Black Level: I would give the edge to the W4100 here, the 650 has CRT level blacks but the W4100 blacks are just as dark but have more detail. (Example: On Fuel Depot when you start the round in the hanger, over in the corners where the vehicles are you could really see the difference of the two sets, the 650 was completely black but W4100 had nice blacks and details from the other colors as well.

Gaming Mode: There is no reason to even go into this, the W4100 by a mile.
Also, the PS3 looked alot better on the W4100 for some reason, it is hooked up in the HDMI port.

TV Speakers: The W4100 sounds alot better then 650, the Sony had better highs and lows and was just plain better.

Design: I do like the 650 design a little more just for the fact the stand swivels and design is refreshing where as the W4100 is pretty standard stuff.

Remote & Menu: I preferred the W4100 because of the PS3 menu set up plus I hated that wheel on the 650 remote.

In closing both TV are nice sets but if you are a gamer that likes going online you might want to stay away from the 650. Here is few pics as well.

I first purchased the 4100 when it first came out in early may and had the set for about a month. I noticed a few problems and decided to exchange it out for the 650. The big difference to me initially was the color on the 650. It was much better than the 4100. I liked the info link set up too. It wasn't necessary, but it was a nice extra. I used the usb port to listen to the mp3s a couple times and liked having that option.

One thing though became apparent to me in the 4100's favor was the clarity and detail in 1080p content compared to the 650. It just didn't look as good. I have owned a Samsung lns3251 for almost 2 years now and I've grown accustomed to viewing blu ray discs in 720p on the set. The 1080p content on the 650 kind of reminded me of what I saw on my 32''. Dont get me wrong, the 650 was a huge upgrade, but for some reason 1080p content just didn't seem to grab me as much as it did on the Sony. I spent all week trying to tweak the settings left and right, but I never really settled in on something that satisfied my viewing tastes. Conversely, I never tweaked the 4100 when I first got it. I was immediately impressed and was pretty much content with the picture quality under all settings.

The motion flow on the Sony seemed to be more pronounced and smoothing compared to the 650. I read a lot of info on AVS about getting into the service menus to up the effect since it had apparently been toned down by Samsung, but I didn't want to void my warranty. The 650's auto motion as it stood out of the box just didn't seem to been on par with the Sony's. Cnet, in their review of the 750 said the same in comparing the 4100 to both the 6 and 750. I remember watching Cars and I Robot on Blu Ray for the first time with motion flow turned on it looked 3d. The Sammy just didn't produce the same effect IMHO.

I kept the 650 for about a week until I saw the W4100 on sale at Frys, so I decided to take my 650 back to Best buy and have them price match Frys' price on the W. This set runs even better than the one I had in May. The strobing lines that were visible during blank input screens were gone and the motion flow seems to be much smoother than what I remembered before.

I began to wonder if my 650 had a "purple haze" issue that many claim to have with their sets, because I just couldn't see what the fuss was about in reviews and personal opinions. Many people swear by this tv, but something about mine didn't seem right. I read a post from someone who had a tech sent out from Samsung to fix the purple haze issue with his set and after it had been done the picture quality on the set went up. I began to wonder if I would have to do the same, but I chose instead to just exchange the set for another W from Sony.

GenNew, excellent review . I just have a few questions though.
1. Do you think the 10-bit panel is something that makes the 650 have better colors?
2. On which set was blurring/smearing more present during sports? On the 650 was there any blurring during gaming or was input lag the only problem?

GenNew, excellent review . I just have a few questions though.
1. Do you think the 10-bit panel is something that makes the 650 have better colors?
2. On which set was blurring/smearing more present during sports? On the 650 was there any blurring during gaming or was input lag the only problem?

Thanks a bunch man.

1. I do think the 10 bit panel makes a difference in the colors along with the better backlight in the 650. It seems like most mid range models from Sony last year like the Vs and Ws had 10 bit panels so I dont understand the logic, besides saving money, in Sony taking a step backwards and using 8 bits panels in those same models. Heck, even the costco version of last years W series had a 10 bit panel and a 120hz refresh rate.

2. There wasn't much blurring in the 650 at all from what I saw. The AMP was pretty good/excellent overall under all settings from sports to gaming. I remember though from the Cnet review on the the W4100 that the triple puck hockey effect on the Samsung was more visible while it was not evident on the W.

Got my 52W4100 Saturday haven't experienced any issues. I noticed using display area full pixels on some channels on my dish network I can see the end of the frame at the bottom like too much over scan but its very very Little and only on some channels what does everyone use full pix normal -1 or -2

I bought the KDL-40W4100 yesterday at Circuit City and it has sparkles that appears on the screen. I really like the pq from it, but I'm not sure if I should exchange it for the Panasonic TH-42PZ80U plasma tv. Is the sparkle issue a minor thing?

Well its pretty minor for me atleast, as it (sparkles)only happens if I force it.

But what is not minor is the fact that my sound cuts out occasionally. It starts breaking up and then completely goes out. It does this on all inputs I have tried (all hdmi, component, and coax).It does come back if I switch to another input and switch back.

Does this happen to anyone else? Is there a fix? Is it a firmware issue? Or should I take the set back? I do like the set, but 2 issues right off the bat? What is up with Sony's quality control? I guess PS3 software isnt the only thing that gets rushed out without checks by Sony.

I find it funny that Sony denies the sparkle issue when so many have already contacted CS about it. As much of a Sony fanboy as I am because of the playstation brand, this is my first tv of theirs and have to say my fanboy tastes are changing.

What other sets should I consider? I really dont want to change though since 1199 was a great price for this tv.

-Why are the threads for this tv so dead? Does every one know something I dont? Has this tv been rejected by the majority already?

I turned in my 46 w4100 today. It clicked all the time, lost audio frequently, generated huge amounts of heat (whether that was normal or not, it was a problem), and it had white patches in the corners and sides whenever the screen was dark (such as black scenes in bu-ray or side black bars on sd tv). Too many problems to hold onto it. Looking into the z4100.

No Fritz the problem isnt the tv, some channels will do that depending on the source. So just back it down just enough so it isnt seen. You can set it independently on all inputs, so full pixel on say a blu ray player will be fine.

Chad, I too have audio dropouts. I am starting to really consider taking this tv back to best buy, even though 1199 was a nice price for a kdl-40w4100

I bought the KDL-40W4100 yesterday at Circuit City and it has sparkles that appears on the screen. I really like the pq from it, but I'm not sure if I should exchange it for the Panasonic TH-42PZ80U plasma tv. Is the sparkle issue a minor thing?

I decided the I will exchange the KDL-40W4100 for the Samsung LN40A550.

Thanks DickMcMuff I wasn't sure I have 30 or 60 days to look this over good I don't want to be stuck with it I love the picture just got worried reading some of the posts here I got the extended warrenty not sure it's worth it 3 years starts from day one